When the Green Line first rolled into downtown St. Paul in 2014, officials called Metro Transit’s light rail service a harbinger of future economic development. The reality has been complicated at best, with new housing and major public developments like CHS Field and Allianz Field constructed by commercial spaces that remain near-vacant or heavily underused.

Case in point: Nearly two acres of public land surrounds the downtown St. Paul light rail stop at Central Station, and most of it sits empty. Eager to see the location redeveloped, the city of St. Paul’s Housing and Redevelopment Authority and the Metropolitan Council have issued a joint request for proposals for the site, which is bounded by Fourth and Fifth streets, as well as Cedar and Minnesota streets.

The city and Met Council, the metro’s regional planning agency, solicited recommendations, or “letters of interest,” from developers in January, and they’re now moving on to a formal RFP for a high-density, mixed-use development that would increase public transit ridership and add vitality downtown. The 1.66-acre site hosts a vertical circulation tower from the light rail train platform to a skyway bridge.

“We got a lot of interest, and one formal response from a developer, Flaherty & Collins, in Indianapolis, who has been tracking the site for years,” said St. Paul City Council Member Rebecca Noecker, who chairs the St. Paul HRA.

“Part of the reason we did a request for letters of interest was to see if it would adjust what we were looking for in a request for proposals. It didn’t. We’re still looking for high density, street level activation. There aren’t many prime development sites in the middle of a downtown center like this. It’s literally the central station for St. Paul.”

St. Paul, Met Council will work with Greater MSP

To market the opportunity, Noecker said the city and Met Council will work with the Greater MSP economic development group, which is based in downtown St. Paul.

Responses will be accepted through July 25 from developers interested in construction on “prime, undeveloped property in the heart of downtown St. Paul,” according to the joint announcement.

The Met Council and St. Paul HRA own separate parcels on the Central Station redevelopment site and are offering them, along with air rights above the Green Line track, as one development opportunity.

That could include restructuring the adjacent stairway-elevator tower, skyway and bus stop and incorporating a new building or buildings, plural.

Public dollars

Would public dollars be available for a project?

That’s a definite possibility, if a development supports a strong public purpose, according to the joint announcement, which notes the potential for a “public-private partnership.”

The downtown Central Station and the skyway bridge above it have not been immune to crime, litter and loitering, but officials also see plenty of potential. Land near high-frequency transit accounts for just 2% of the region’s taxable parcels but generates more than 25% of the region’s property tax revenue, according to figures compiled by the Met Council. Overall, the site has potential for 578,000 square feet of buildable space.

A vacant building on the site was demolished to make way for the Green Line over a decade ago. As part of the light rail construction project, an environmental cleanup effort also occurred on the site.

Questions are due to the Met Council by April 5. More information is online at metrotransit.org/central-station-block.

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